


Kittiwake

by FlightOfInsanity



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: and by "fireteam" i mean "one of them things its a team and the other wants no part of it", the ongoing adventures of Fireteam Kittiwake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-08-23 19:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8340412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlightOfInsanity/pseuds/FlightOfInsanity
Summary: The ongoing adventures of Fireteam Kittiwake.





	1. Chapter 1

It was the screaming that caught his attention.

The confused and outraged barks of dregs mixed with the frantic shrieks and unintelligible shouts of someone decidedly non-Eliksni. The sounds echoed around the rusty building, occasionally punctuated by dull thumps and the hiss-snap of shock rifles. Carefully poking his head around a corner gave him a view of the scene – three dregs, two standing and one either unconscious or dead on the floor, and a Hunter.

The Guardian whirled around with a frantic howl, waving a staff at their enemies. Jaksis thought it was a weapon stolen from one of the fallen dregs, but as the light caught it he realized it was a tree branch.

“That’s not a Guardian,” his Ghost said with a note of surprise.

“A civilian?”

One of the dregs took a shot at the not-a-Guardian and missed. They flinched, the hand with the branch coming up to protect their face.

“ _Stop it!_ ”

His Ghost prodded him and Jaksis sighed, taking down the other two dregs with well-placed shots. The civilian flinched again, turning to see where the shots had come from. Jaksis emerged from the doorway, holstering his weapon as he did. With another frantic shout, the civilian came after him with the tree branch. He grabbed it with one hand and shoved; the civilian fell unceremoniously onto their rear with a loud clatter.

A solid kick connected with his shin and he snarled as his Ghost appeared in a flurry.

“Stop! Stop, we’re a Guardian!”

The civilian stopped and looked up, leg already pulled back for another kick. Jaksis saw the bright eye and throat lights of an exo under their hood.

“Oh.”

They dropped their foot back to the ground and let go of the branch. Jaksis tossed the branch to the side.

“What are you doing?” he snapped.

“None of your business,” the exo – male-voiced – snapped back. He tried to cross his arms, but only one responded. He looked at the other one in surprise and prodded at his shoulder with an exploratory finger.

Jaksis pushed a hand forward and his Ghost floated closer, giving the exo’s shoulder a quick scan.

“Can you fix it?”

His Ghost gave him a half-turned glance. “It doesn’t work like that with civilians. I could guide you through repairs, but we don’t have any equipment.”

“I have some tools in my kit,” the exo offered. “It’s over there somewhere.”

Jaksis looked where the exo was pointing and saw a dusty pack. He went to pick it up and was surprised when it was much heavier than he was expecting.

“What do you _have_ in here?”

The exo shrugged his one working shoulder and scowled. “Stuff?”

Jaksis dropped it and sounds of glass clinking made the exo hiss at him.

“Be _careful!_ I didn’t come all the way out here just to go home empty handed!”

He rolled his eyes and opened the pack, digging around for something that looked like a toolkit. He pulled out a handful of ether sups instead and stared at them for a moment.

“You… _ether?_ What do you need ether for?”

“For selling. Obviously. Now put those back; the toolkit’s in the side pocket.”

Jaksis stared at the exo. “You came all the way out here to attack Eliksni and steal their ether?”

The exo’s throat flashed a bright, staccato pattern. “They can _make more_ , you… _you_. And I didn’t attack them – I don’t even have a gun!”

“You’re unarmed?” It was Ghost’s turn to sound surprised.

The exo whirred and snatched at his pack. “If you’re just going to lecture me, go away. I’ll… fix this myself.”

“No, no,” Ghost said quickly. “Jaksis, the tools.”

Jaksis huffed, but did as he was told. He wasn’t a medic or… mechanic, but he’d quickly learned that arguing with his Ghost was a useless endeavor. The exo helpfully shed his cloak and pulled most of his ruined sleeve from his arm. Jaksis pulled away the bits left behind, slick with some sort of dark fluid, and set to work.

As he worked, carefully following his Ghost’s guidance for patching the damaged fluid lines and circuitry, he could hear rhythmic noises coming from the exo. He assumed they were just general sounds exos made, but the more he listened, he realized the noises were deliberate. He paused and stared at the other. The exo slowly fell silent, gave a quiet rev and baffling flicker of lights, and looked away. Jaksis went back to work, but paused as a thought came to him.

“Can you feel this at all?”

A shrug. “I would’ve thought so, but I guess they must’ve wrecked the sensors in there. Never been shot before.”

More silence followed, filled again with the quiet, deliberate tones.

“Do you have a name?” Jaksis asked. He didn’t really care, but it was a question he’d seen humans ask each other.

“Do you?”

He hesitated. “Jaksis.”

“Rigel-7. You about done?”

“Almost,” Ghost replied. “Though you will still need to report to medical.”

Rigel sighed.

“There! Done,” Ghost chirped. “Give it a try.”

“Really? I still can’t—“ Rigel’s hand and arm jerked up and he yelped in surprise. He flexed his fingers and elbow with jittering movements, staring at the appendage like he’d never seen it before.

He laughed. “This is… very weird. I can’t feel my arm at all but it still moves.”

Ghost spun his tines around. “I did say you would still need to report to medical.”

Jaksis stood. “Ghost call the ship.”

His Ghost gave him a look and turned to Rigel. “Do you need transport to the City?”

“Nah. I need to go get my Sparrow anyway.” He picked up his pack with his numb arm, dropped it, and caught it with the good one.

“Ghost.”

Ghost sighed and winked away. “Ship is ready.”

“Hang on. Um… Here.”

Rigel dug several of the ether sups out of his pack and rolled them into a scrap of fabric he dug out of the bottom of it. He held the bundle out toward Jaksis, tipping it around when he didn’t take it.

“Why?”

“As a… thank you? Or payment? I don’t know. You can sell them or… eat them?”

Jaksis made no move to grab the bundle and Rigel whirred, stepping forward and jabbing him with the bundle.

 _Don’t be rude,_ Ghost said.

He took it and Rigel grinned, lights brightening. Ghost initiated the transmat and pulled him to the privacy of his own ship. He dropped into the seat and sighed.

“We should have brought him with us,” Ghost said.

“He didn’t want to come.”

“He’s an unarmed civilian in hostile territory.”

“He got himself in there, he can get himself out.”

“He just crashed his Sparrow.”

“He— what?”

A display appeared in front of him – apparently Ghost had been keeping an eye on Rigel from where they hovered over the landscape. The exo seemed to be having quite a bit of trouble driving his Sparrow with one responsive hand. Jaksis let out a growling sigh and flicked a control for the communications. On the screen, Rigel swerved violently as the radio connected.

“Do you want transport?” Jaksis asked, deadpan.

“…… yes please.”


	2. Anyone But Him

“Jaksis. A word please?”

Jaksis barely managed to keep himself from stumbling as the Vanguard came alongside him. “Ikora! This is a surprise.”

“I have a mission for you,” she said, holding out a hand and directing him toward the hangar.

Jaksis blinked. “You… do? But I thought Cayde gave—“

“Cayde wouldn’t have given you the assignment, but I feel it will be a good way for you to prove your abilities to him. There’s a Titan stranded on another continent and we need someone to fly a mechanic out to repair her ship.”

“Why not just send someone to pick her up?”

An odd expression crossed Ikora’s face. “She has some rather… interesting cargo and we can’t risk a ship-to-ship transfer.”

“So I’m a—“ he searched for the proper word “—a taxi?”

“A very important taxi,” she replied with a ghost of a smile. “Plus, you already have some familiarity with the mechanic.”

“I do?”

“Jak!”

Terror and dread stopped him dead in his tracks as he looked toward the shout. Standing next to Amanda was Rigel, the very last person in the Tower he wanted to go on a long flight with. He looked to Ikora with what he hoped she saw as pleading.

“Anyone but him, _please_.”

She clasped her hands lightly behind her back and regarded him with a closed look. “Rigel is who Amanda chose for the repairs. You can either accept the mission or I will send another Guardian.”

He almost said no. He very desperately wanted to say no. But if Ikora was right and this would help Cayde appreciate him as a Guardian…

His shoulders dropped and he sighed heavily.

That ghost of a smile again. “Your Ghost will have the mission details.”

* * *

“Could we—“ a grunt cut off the words as Rigel tripped on a root bundle. “Could we not have landed any closer?”

“No.”

“We could have brought Sparrows at least.”

“No.”

“Well, we could have—“

“Could you please just… be quiet?”

Rigel hissed from somewhere behind him. “ _Fine._ ”

The exo barely managed a minute.

“Are we there yet?”

Jaksis stopped and looked toward the sky. Fluffy white clouds drifted by overhead, completely oblivious to his plight.

_This mission is good_ , he told himself. _This mission is a good thing and this will be worth it._

“Oh. Never mind.”

Jaksis blinked and looked back down. Rigel had gone ahead of him and was looking around a corner. With a quick jog Jaksis caught up – a small ship was tucked into a bend in the bluff. A figure he assumed was the pilot Titan was splayed on the ground between the ship and them.

“Is she dead?” Rigel asked with a quiet whisper.

The Titan pointed at the ship. “The ship is there. Inside is off-limits. Have fun.”

Rigel bounded away toward the ship, dropping his tools on the ground under its nose, and set to work scanning its engines. Jaksis moved closer to the Titan and looked down at her.

“How did you know we weren’t enemies?”

“Three.”

He waited for an explanation and received none. “Three… what?”

“My Ghost. He’s not entirely incompetent.”

A clang echoed off the bluff and Jaksis looked up in time to see Rigel hastily picking something up from the ground. He turned back to the Titan who hadn’t reacted in the slightest.

“Why are you laying on the ground?”

Silence.

“How long have you been there?”

More silence.

“Did you set up a perimeter?”

Her helmet angled just enough to let Jaksis know he was being stared at. “Are you here to help or just to ask questions?”

“I just flew him here.”

“Babysitting, then.”

Jaksis bristled. “It’s not babysitting.”

“Mm.” She turned her head back to staring at the sky.

“You are a terrible Titan.” He felt his Ghost reprimand him but he ignored it.

“And you are a terrible babysitter.”

“What?”

“Where’s your charge?”

Jaksis whirled around, looking for the exo, but he was nowhere to be found. Air whooshed through the clearing as the engines on the Titan’s ship came to life.

“Oh no.”

It was a severe understatement, but he didn’t know what else to do. Rigel was going to escape with the jumpship and Ikora’s mysterious cargo. A hand clapped down on his shoulder and he jumped away. The Titan stood where he had been and she laughed.

“Don’t worry, he ain’t going anywhere. Ship please, Three.”

She disappeared in the sparkle of a transmat and a few seconds later the whine of the engines died away into silence. Another shower of small sparks and she reappeared, holding Rigel by the collar of his jacket.

“ _You—_ “ Jaksis snarled.

“I was just checking the engines.” He wriggled from the Titan’s grip. “They’re working now, by the way. Just some wiring that had come undone.”

“Fantastic.” She disappeared into her ship and the engines came to life again.

Jaksis pinned Rigel with a glare that was met with a grin and a light punch in the arm.

“I wasn’t going to _steal_ it. I wouldn’t get you into that kind of trouble.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Bungie, 
> 
> Please give me more information on exos because I have literally no idea how they work.
> 
> -
> 
> (ps - Jaksis is a Vandal-based Eliksni Guardian; Rigel-7 is a civilian scavenger)


End file.
